Gauche
= Gauche = Gauche is the general of the Black Guard. Growing up to become a revolutionary for the workers of Sanctuary, Gauche became a master of guerrilla warfare and hit-and-run tactics. He remained true to the Director during the Palamedes insurrection, and as such his company took some of the heaviest losses of the war during the Mobilization Massacre. History Youth Gauche was separated from the Director while still an infant by the leaders of the Free Cities. He was taken to Seattle and placed in Sanctuary. An advanced factory underneath Seattle, providing the city with minerals extracted from the Earth by mine-slaves. Under the iron watch of heavily armed guards, the inhabitants of Sanctuary; criminals and political opponents, had long provided the rulers of Seattle a free and unlimited source of minerals. After the slave-girl Sophia discovered the white-skinned child who became Gauche, they kept him safe from the guards, training him in the various skills they believe a leader and warrior needed: urban warfare, close combat and demolitions as well as political and philosophical matters. Ultimately, his abnormally fast maturation comforted the slaves and they became fixed in their belief that he was the saviour they waited for. Educated to be a leader as well as a rebel, he rapidly began his task by organizing the workers into fight teams, promoting the best of the men as squad leaders. He began building huge stockpiles of weapons, concealing them in numerous secret caches. He ordered a campaign of psychological warfare, launching riots and strikes to build up followers in the worker's rebellion and to stretch the garrison strength and morale to breaking point. Waiting for the opportune time to strike, Gauche’s forces launched their attack, taking key security points and destroying them by crude force or sabotage, killing every man of Sanctuary’s defence force. When Seattle's ruler struck back, Gauche was ready for them. He outmanoeuvred and ambushed their forces with his battle-hardened warriors, crushing their supply lines. Five atomic mining charges were set on small transport shuttles to be sent to Seattle surface via a supply gravity well. The Director Calls It is said that the Director appeared in Seattle that day and, after a day and a night with his son, appointed him General of the 3rd company. The atomic charges were disarmed and never sent to surface, one condition of Gauche's acceptance was the help of the Director in the task of bringing peace to Sanctuary. Soon Seoul’s technical team stepped in and the factory was rebuilt. During the coming years, Gauche’s talents for planning and sabotage were of great effect and the Black Guard, fighting frequently under the orders of Palamedes, became renowned for an unmatched ability with covert ops, sabotage, infiltration and lightning strikes. But the pair never saw eye-to-eye, and after an argument, the two generals nearly fought each other. Gauche left Palamedes command. Gauche sought to transform the company into a force for the liberation of the oppressed. Gauche also began to display great ill-favour and mistrust towards Seoul-born warriors within his Legion as opposed to those from Sanctuary he began to "purge" Seoul-borns by sending them to the unexplored places of Earth. Palamedes insurrection The Black Guard’s general only met Palamedes again at Bucharest. During the Mobilization Massacre, Gauche was among the generals leading the loyalist effort against Palamedes' betrayal. In the battle he engaged Marduk in combat, impaling him with his Claws. Just as he was about to finish Marduk, Ishtar intervened and forced Gauche to retreat. Though grievously wounded and forced to fight a guerrilla war at Bucharest he escaped the initial slaughter with a handful of loyal soldiers. Unbeknownst to both sides, the Faithless had allowed Gauche’s initial escape to further the plans of Azrael. Desperate Gauche contacted the Director and he revealed to Gauche the steps of the general program and a way to make super soldiers quicker than previously designed. In a plan orchestrated by Azrael Samael himself, Faithless doctors grafted the facial traits of some dead Balck Guards over the face of their soldiers. Their objective was to hinder the Balck Guard using their obtained knowledge as this would have displaced the balance against Palamedes' forces. Of course, since free to act as best suited, Azrael Samael had in mind also to recover the secret knowledge to expand their legion too. Once the information had been revealed to Gauche the Faithless soldiers dropped their charade and turned on the General murdering him on the battlefield. Equipment and Abilities In battle, Gauche favoured a Semi-Automatic grenade launcher for long-range killing, which he hefted and aimed as easily as an ordinary man would lift a battle rifle. He wielded two pistols as additional firepower. For close-quarters fighting, he carried a three-headed power whip specially crafted for him by Seoul scientists as well as a pair of Claws known as the Eagle's Talons. In the absence of these weapons, he was more than able to tear apart enemies with his bare hands. Gauche wore a jet-black suit of Armour equipped with a Jetpack known as The Sable Armour. The Sable Armour was also capable of masking his energy signature and could be used to jam nearby enemy communications. Gauche most potent ability, however, was his wraith-slip, also called a Shadow-slip or Shadow-Walk. This allowed him to seemingly meld with the shadows around him, disappearing from the view of his foes before striking unseen.